Over 200 medical graduates may be involved in admission racket: Police

New Delhi: Following investigations into an admission racket regarding MBBS and other medical post-graduate courses, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has identified over 200 such post-graduate passouts and other doctors for their suspected involvement, police said on Wednesday.

"This racket running for the last several years involves huge sums of money. The Crime Branch suspects that over Rs 500 crore to Rs 600 crore have been collected from around 1,000 students in the last three years," a senior police officer connected with the investigation told IANS.

Police said out of the 200 suspects, Atul Kumar, 25, and Abhishek Singh, 27, have been arrested in east Delhi. Both are B.Tech degree holders.

"Both natives of Bihar are involved in post-graduate medical entrance test -- National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). They were arrested in April."

He said many MBBS degree holders involved in the racket generally chose examination centres that did not have closed-circuit television surveillance. The Crime Branch has identified 80 such centres used in this racket, the officer said.

Some fake candidates (degree holders) and impersonators, who charged Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh commission from touts, as well as their accomplices who helped crack the entrance examination were also identified.

They include MBBS degree holders from Ukraine, China, and Russia, some of whom are practicing in private hospitals in various states.

"The modus operandi was to charge Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore from each aspirant for admission in government-run medical colleges. The medical degree holders impersonated the candidates in the medical entrance test."

Those involved have good contacts with prominent academics like registrars, directors, college staff and professors who help them vis-a-vis impersonators, the officer said. They helped dummy candidates during biometric checks and cross-checks on identity of candidates.

A Delhi based non-governmental organisation 'Sankalp Charitable Trust' had approached the Delhi High Court with a Public Interest Litigation for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into NEET admissions to medical post-graduate courses in India between December 5, 2016, and December 13, 2017.

The Crime branch registered a case in April after High Court directions and raided all 80 examination centres, including Bengaluru, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.

In 2012, the Crime Branch busted a racket involving entrance tests for post-graduate courses at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.